The Sacramento Ballet's Nutcracker Gets Two Surprising Twists!

Not only is the Sacramento Ballet performing a brand new, updated version of “The Nutcracker,” they are partnering with an upper-division marketing class at William Jessup University (WJU) to promote this holiday tradition.

The first twist is the show itself.

Under the leadership of a new Artistic Director, Amy Seiwert, Sacramento Ballet will reimagine the work while retaining its classic look, story, and, of course, Tchaikovsky’s spectacular music.

Sacramento author J. Scott Coatsworth has written and published a number of short stories, novellas and full-length novels, but “The River City Chronicles” holds a special place in his little writer heart.

In many ways, it is a love letter to Sacramento, one that we wanted to share with Outword’s readers. To do that we have uploaded the the next installment of chapters here, for you to read online.

Previously:

Previously in the River City: Matteo and Diego hatched a plan to save their faltering Italian restaurant, Ragazzi – a cooking class to meet every Sunday. Carmelina mourned her dead husband Arthur, and decided to try something new. Marcos, a web designer, and Marissa, a homeless teenager, ran across fliers for the class and decided to go too.

Hair-raising Horror Movies Come Home For Halloween

By Chris Narloch

What’s better than watching a scary movie on Halloween?

Luckily, there have been a number of excellent recent DVD releases aimed at horror movie fans, including 4K Ultra HD discs of John Carpenter’s original “Halloween” and also “The Evil Dead,” plus a 25th Anniversary version of my favorite Halloween flick, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Do The Time Warp Again At “Rocky Horror”

by Chris Narloch

The near-capacity crowd was definitely pumped on opening night of “The Rocky Horror Show,” as Sacramento’s Green Valley Theatre Company presented its 10th Anniversary live production of the cross-dressing classic in front of an eager and faithful audience.

The gender bending musical opened on Oct. 19 and will play through Nov. 3 at the 24th Street Theatre, inside the Sierra 2 Center for the Arts. You are advised to get your tickets immediately, before they are gone, for this “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania” triumph.

Still We Rise

by Tom Moon, MFT, The Examined Life

In the days following the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, I talked with women and gay men who had been re-traumatized by the whole spectacle. I heard stories of rape, beatings, threats, and bullying, almost always at the hands of young men. Some said that they had never told their stories before, and almost all said that they carry the wounds of their experiences to this day. Their suffering, and their courage and resilience in responding to it, was deeply moving.

Last time I wrote about “victors” – those spiritual giants among us who are able, not merely to survive their traumas, but to triumph over them. As an example, I mentioned Viktor Frankl, the Viennese psychiatrist who found that, even in the hell of Auschwitz, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”